Let's Build a House

[Music] let's build a house this is faith this is faith's father this is faith's friend mark and this is faith's house usually she just lives in it but today she and her father and mark are tapping it slapping it and wrapping it isn't that a strange way to treat a house not really they have a very special reason they are going to build a real little house for faith and her friends and they need to know about the things people use to build a house they will need nails and screws and nuts and bolts all sorts of things made of iron they need wood of course wood for doors wood for floors wood for walls and roof they need glass glass for windows they will have to be very careful with the glass they need things like cement gravel sand and bricks there all the things they need and now they're ready to start on the foundation watch first sand then gravel and now cement next some water water helps to stick the sand and gravel and cement together when the concrete is all mixed it's ready to be poured the foundation has begun they pour the concrete between low wooden walls called forms the forms will give the foundation just the right shape faith pokes the wet concrete pushing it into every corner before it hardens they need many loads to fill the forms after all the pouring is done the concrete must be made smooth the foundation will be level and square and now watch while the concrete is still soft faith's father sinks iron bolts into it the bolts will hold the rest of the house on the foundation the next day when they take the forms away this is how their foundation looks concrete is like stone it is really stone that's made by men and stone is good for foundations because it doesn't rot even in damp ground but wood does rot in the ground especially in damp ground when buildings are built without good foundations they can fall over bricks are man-made stones too they're hard and heavy and will make good steps for faith's house her father uses mortar between the bricks to hold them in place when they've finished the steps they're ready to begin the walls wood isn't good for foundations but it's fine for walls have you ever thought why we use wood for so many things you can do this with it and this and this of course we can saw an iron pipe we can drill a hole in concrete we can even cut a thick sheet of iron but wood is much easier to nail and saw and drill another thing about wood is that it's light imagine trying to carry a wall made of stone or iron and now you can see how the iron bolts will hold the wall in place faith's father has drilled holes in just the right places for the bolts to go through they build each wall to fit when the third and fourth walls are in place faith and mark can see where the front door will be it begins to look like a real house but there's still a lot of work to do work is easier when everybody helps near faith's home there is a big house that many men are building every day on their way home from school faith and mark watch the men at work work is easier when everybody helps this is how faith's house looks after two weeks it has a floor made of wood it has a roof made of wood and the outside of the walls will be made of wood each board has to be nailed carefully in place here is a camera trick that will speed up the building there goes one side now the back now the other side now the front just like that that was a trick but really it took a long time to build the walls here is another thing that we use when we build houses glass lets in light and keeps out the cold and rain on a windy rainy day you wouldn't have a very cozy home without glass would you glass is right for windows but not for foundations wood is right for walls but not for windows concrete and stone and brick are better for some things no one thing is best for everything there's still another kind of thing we use for building houses screws and hinges are best made out of some kind of metal screws and hinges wouldn't be very good if they were made of glass or wood or concrete would they we use iron for nails because iron is strong and we can make it into special shapes nail shapes we use iron for nuts and bolts because it is strong and because we can make it into nuts and bolts shapes but there's something else about iron that's not so good iron rusts here is a nail that has gotten rusty lying in the rain and in the morning dew how do you suppose faith and mark can keep their iron railings from getting rusty by using paint paint covers the iron so the rain and the morning dew can't get added to make it rusty and now faith's house is finished faith and her father and mark worked hard and for a long time but now the house is finished they take good care of their house do you help take good care of your house [Music] you